Australia

Cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/12976581

Freely accessible archived version.

"The actions of mine that were deemed treasonous [by China] involved writing about China’s concentration camps, which hold up to a million Uighurs, and forced Uighur labour that implicated global supply chains," says Vicky Xu, an Australian journalist and researcher, previously with The New York Times and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"In the visit of Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi last month, there was positive talk of trade and bilateral relations between Australia and China but nothing about me or the many other Australian citizens and residents targeted by the Chinese state on Australian soil. I thought I’d remind people of our existence and present my point of view."

"It has grown tiresome for me to recount how my life has been ruined by the Chinese state, how my family and friends were taken away as a result of my journalistic work on China. In Australia I’ve been followed around. Strange East Asian men stood in front of my apartment complex like voluntary doormen. I changed my number, got new email addresses, installed home security systems, moved again and again. Counter-surveillance has been a full-time job. As I write this, I do not have a stable home address because my current solution to the problem is leading a nomadic lifestyle to stay a step ahead of Chinese Communist Party goons. I don’t know what their plans are if and when they catch up with me again. I’m not the only China scholar who lives in fear of abduction or assassination."

If Australia can kickstart a viable solar industry, the country could take better advantage of the talent and research knowhow in Australia to begin building next-generation cells, and unlock other parts of the green economy, write Brett Hallam and Fiacre Rougieux from the UNSW Sydney.

"Cheap and plentiful solar power could make it viable to crack water to make green hydrogen or make green steel and aluminium," they add.

"Many initiatives have to be set in train now to gain the benefits in five or ten years’ time. [...] But in a sun-drenched country, it makes sense to aim for the skies."

The first episode was with UK-based Danish comedian Sandi Toksvig. Other noteworthy guests include Tanya Plibersek, Hillary Clinton, and Theresa May.

On the one hand, it makes it really hard to stay motivated with the teeny contribution I make to reducing emissions.
On the other, think of how much of a difference these 57 companies could make if they actually reached net-zero targets.

Charity organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) said seven of its international aid workers were killed by the strike while helping to deliver food and other supplies to northern Gaza.

The charity said the team were travelling in a "deconflicted zone" in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo despite coordinating movements with the Israeli Defense Forces.

WCK said the seven killed were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a dual United States-Canadian citizen and Palestine.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/12864190

‘Poison portal’: US and UK could send nuclear waste to Australia under Aukus, inquiry told

Labor describes claims as ‘fear-mongering’ and says government would not accept waste from other nations

Archived version: https://archive.ph/OKW8S

Watch as the Australian government condemns this in the weakest way possible.

May you all get lots of choccy and hot cross buns

Checking the poll this morning three songs were at equal scores. To break the tie I decided to use the fraction of upvotes with respect to the total number of votes cast the results were:

• Royel Otis - Heading for the Door (6/(6+3) = 66.67%)
• Donny Benét- American Dream (7/(7+4) = 63.64%)
• Kylie Minogue - Padum Padum (8/(8+5) = 61.54%)

Here's a link to the song if you haven't heard it: https://youtu.be/cG5ex57YZ40?si=56_EIkKhLu5WBl1e

Thank you to everyone who participated, keep an eye on !lemmyvision@jlai.lu for any updates on the competition.

With Lemmyvision around the corner, we have a pinned thread to determine which song we should nominate into Lemmyvision. Don't forget to have your say

I'm trying a new preferential-like system using upvotes and downvoted so feedback is also appreciated, in the case of a tie I'll pick at random (since we can only send one unfortunately).

I'm sure this whole article comes as a shock to nobody, but it's nice to see it recognised like this.

Greg Barns claims that the case should be stopped because it represents an unprecedented attempt by the US to prosecute an individual who is not one of its citizens, and who was not in the US when the WikiLeaks material was published. This is called extraterritorial reach and generally the law frowns on it.

"To reward the US in the Assange case is to say that any person, anywhere in the world, who publishes materials which the US government doesn’t want the world to know about could find themselves on the end of an extradition request from the Department of Justice," Barns adds.

"Australia, along with the US and the UK, last year criticised China for the extraterritorial application of its Hong Kong security law. It is, according to a state department spokesperson 'a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world'. Unless the US and Australia release Assange now they can’t claim any moral high ground on this issue."

The two nations had announced the deal in November, but it was thrown into doubt during an election campaign in the remote atoll nation of 11,000 people that is threatened by rising sea levels.

Feleti Teo became prime minister in February, after a general election closely watched by Taiwan, China, the United States and Australia, amid a geopolitical tussle for influence in the South Pacific. Tuvalu is one of three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan after Nauru cut ties last month and switched to Beijing.

"The new Government of Tuvalu has confirmed its desire to proceed with the Falepili Union," Conroy said in parliament on Tuesday, as he tabled the deal for ratification.

The businessman Zhao Fugang's role is typical of Beijing’s steady efforts to build its footprint in the Pacific Islands. The ruling Chinese Communist Party often uses prominent members of the overseas diaspora as proxies to push Chinese interests, under a strategy it calls the “United Front.”

Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies believe that Zhao is not merely a businessman or political operative. They suspect he is also a senior organized crime figure.

Australia’s top criminal intelligence body, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, went to the extraordinary step of adding Zhao to its registry of Australian Priority Organization Targets in mid-2023, reporters have learned. The list of priority targets is secret, and includes about a dozen top suspected criminals, typically based abroad, who are deemed to be “the most significant threats facing Australia.”

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson is calling on the federal government to hit Chinese-backed hackers with sanctions after Australia joined with the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand to accuse Beijing of orchestrating a sweeping campaign of cyber espionage targeting voters, parliamentarians and companies in the West.

Research by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia casts doubt on the Coalition’s plan

See https://aussie.zone/post/8404273 for result

As mentioned in my earlier post [1] we are conducting a poll to determine our nomination for Lemmyvision which you can read more about in !lemmyvision@jlai.lu.

Here's how the poll will work:

• I'll create a comment for each option, upvote it if you like it, leave it if indifferent and downvote if you don't like it.
• Try not to feel pressured to vote for the option that is most popular.
• While this post will appear as locked you should still be able to cast votes.
• The option with the highest score wins.
• I will take the result at an undisclosed time on the 29th of March. I will screenshot the results for authenticity.
• If you have any trouble casting a vote please reach out.

[1] What should we nominate for Lemmyvision?

Cricket Australia (CA) says government advice is that conditions for women and girls "are getting worse".

It is the third time Australia has declined to play Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

A one-off Test match in September 2021 and a three-match men's one-day series in March 2023 were also cancelled.